Princeton Weekly Bulletin May 3, 1999

In print

    

• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, translated and edited by Professor of Germanic Languages and Literature and Comparative Literature Stanley Corngold. (W.W. Norton & Co., 1996)

"Franz Kafka's 1915 masterpiece is presented in the acclaimed translation by Stanley Corngold. The novella is fully annotated and is accompanied by selected textual variants. 'Backgrounds and Contexts' introduces readers to The Metamorphosis in the richest possible setting. Kafka's letters and diary entries illuminate the creative process behind Gregor Samsa, his family and their nightmarish ordeal. 'Criticism' is a collection of seven essays from the period 1970-95 that offers a variety of perspectives on the novella by Iris Bruce, Nina Pelikan Straus, Kevin W. Sweeney, Mark Anderson, Hartmut Binder, Eric Santner and Stanley Corngold. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included." (from the book cover)

     

• Framing the Social Security Debate: Values, Politics and Economics, edited by Professor of Politics and Public Affairs R. Douglas Arnold, Michael Graetz and Alicia Munnell. (National Academy of Social Insurance, 1998)

"In his 1998 State of the Union address, President Clinton challenged Americans to a public debate about how to fix the long-term financial problems of Social Security. This annual volume of the National Academy of Social Insurance provides a framework for that debate. Competing reform proposals reflect contrasting views about the nature of the Social Security problem and how to solve it." (from the book cover)

    

• At the End of the American Century: America's Role in the Post-Cold War World, edited by Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs Robert Hutchings. (Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1998)

"At the End of the American Century brings together a distinguished group of legislators, foreign policy makers, scholars and business leaders to review essential questions of morality, national interest, politics and economics in U.S. foreign policy after the collapse of the Soviet empire. The contributors offer a back-to-basics inquiry: Can the leadership role the United States played for most of the 20th century be extended into a new and very different era?" (from the book cover)

     

• Political Dissent in Democratic Athens: Intellectual Critics of Popular Rule, by David Magie Professor of Ancient History Josiah Ober. (Princeton University Press, 1998)

"How and why did the Western tradition of political theorizing arise in Athens during the late fifth and fourth centuries B.C.? By interweaving intellectual history with political philosophy and literary analysis, Josiah Ober argues that the tradition originated in a high-stakes debate about democracy. Ober offers fresh readings of the political works of Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle, among others, by placing them in the context of a competitive community of dissident writers. These thinkers struggled against both democratic ideology and intellectual rivals to articulate the best and most influential criticism of popular rule." (from the book cover)